Tag: Kelly Oubre Jr.

Sixers give love to Cam Payne for big performance in Game 3 vs. Knicks

The Philadelphia 76ers gave a lot of love to Cam Payne for his efforts in a Game 3 win over the New York Knicks.

PHILADELPHIA — The Philadelphia 76ers picked up a huge 125-114 win over the New York Knicks in Game 3 on Thursday thanks to the heroics of Joel Embiid. The big fella had a playoff career-high 50 points despite the knee injury and Bell’s Palsy bothering him.

However, a big factor in the win was the play of Cam Payne. The spark plug hopped off the bench and had 11 points while knocking down three 3s. He had eight points in the second quarter and gave Philadelphia a boost on both ends of the floor.

Along with the eight points, he also had two blocks.

“Unbelievable,” Kyle Lowry said. “I think Cam Payne was the MVP of this game. He’s staying ready. He’s always constantly got energy and he’s a guy who’s been in this situation before. high energy, high-level IQ, and we need that. It’s a guy in the playoffs that always steps up for you and every single game, it’s a different guy and tonight, Cam Payne was our real-life X factor.”

To Lowry’s point, there is always somebody who steps up in the postseason to give his team a big boost. On Thursday, that guy was Payne as he came up with the big plays the Sixers needed off the bench to match what the Knicks were receiving from theirs.

“That’s what we expect out of him,” Kelly Oubre Jr. added. “Energy and then coming in and kinda keeping us alive. That’s exactly what he did tonight, but it’s tough to stay ready when things change a lot, but for him, he’s been in a lot of big moments. He’s been in a lot of big games and finals and things like that so we lean on him just for the energy and everything he brings to the game of basketball.”

The bench unit was a big factor in New York’s wins in games 1 and 2. The Knicks received big performances from Deuce McBride, Bojan Bogdanovic and Mitchell Robinson. Philadelphia responded in Game 3 with Payne stepping up.

“It was huge,” Tobias Harris stated. “Just his energy. His shot-making as well. His speed. Just to get a different dynamic for us out there on the floor. I just know he did a great job embracing the moment and got going for us.”
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Sixers forward Kelly Oubre Jr. discusses car accident he was involved in

Philadelphia 76ers forward Kelly Oubre Jr. discusses the car accident he got into after the team returned home from New York.

PHILADELPHIA — After the Philadelphia 76ers returned home from their Game 2 loss to the New York Knicks, forward Kelly Oubre Jr. was involved in a car accident. After a big win over the Knicks in Game 3 on Thursday, Oubre addressed the accident.

“Everything is good,” he stated. “I’m OK. The people that were involved were OK, but I need to probably get a driver or something and just stay off the road and behind the wheel, but everything is good. I’m good. I was still able to do my job and support my family and things are great.”

This is the second time Oubre has been involved in a car accident in the 2023-24 season. In November, he was involved in a hit-and-run incident as a pedestrian. He suffered a rib injury and missed multiple games.

Oubre had 15 points and seven rebounds and played a big factor in the Game 3 win on Thursday.

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Sixers’ Kelly Oubre Jr. involved in car crash following Game 2 loss to Knicks

Philadelphia 76ers forward Kelly Oubre Jr. was involved in an unfortunate car accident following the team’s Game 2 loss to the New York Knicks.

Hours after the Philadelphia 76ers dropped Game 2 to the New York Knicks on Monday, Kelly Oubre Jr. was involved in a car accident on the way home.

Per TMZ Sports, the accident occurred shortly after the team returned home from Madison Square Garden:

TMZ Sports has learned he wrecked his Lamborghini in a crash just hours after the Sixers fell to the Knicks in Game 2 of their postseason series.

The Philadelphia Police Dept. tells us the wreck happened at around 1:45 AM on Tuesday … shortly after Oubre and the 76ers dropped a heartbreaker at Madison Square Garden, 104-101.

A source told Sixers Wire that Oubre was not injured and he is expected to be in the lineup for Game 3 against the Knicks. The fact he is OK and he is healthy is the most important part.

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Nick Nurse thinks Sixers have good ideas to get Kelly Oubre Jr. going

Nick Nurse thinks the Philadelphia 76ers have some good ideas to get Kelly Oubre Jr. going in the NBA Playoffs.

CAMDEN, N.J. — The Philadelphia 76ers are down 2-0 in their first-round series with the New York Knicks as play shifts to the Wells Fargo Center. In order for the Sixers to get on the board in this series, they need others to step up around Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey.

One of Philadelphia’s more important role players is Kelly Oubre Jr. The veteran out of Kansas has been a very nice addition to the roster. He averaged 15.4 points and 5.0 rebounds while playing in 68 games in his first season with the Sixers. Considering he is on the minimum, his production has been a steal.

Through the first two playoff games with the Knicks, however, he’s averaging 7 points while shooting 35.7% from the floor. The Sixers need to find a way to unlock him — along with Tobias Harris and Buddy Hield.

“I think especially after Game 1, you’re saying, ‘Geez, we need more out of Nico (Batum) and Kelly and Tobias.’ The list goes on and on, right?” said coach Nick Nurse at practice on Wednesday. “I think we’ve got some good ideas to get Kelly going a little bit. I think Tobias has been really excellent, man. He’s played really hard. He’s guarded really well. He’s rebounded the ball. He’s going to have some opportunities, I think, that we’ve seen and he can probably take advantage of it.”

Give Harris and Oubre credit as the main defenders on Knicks star Jalen Brunson; the two have used their length and size to fluster him. However, Philadelphia also needs them to provide something on offense — especially Oubre, who can make a difference in games such as these with his athleticism.

Then, there’s Hield who has two points through two games and is 0-for-3 from deep.

“I know Buddy hasn’t done much but again, he’s still a guy that he just hits one and you never know what’s going to happen next, right?” Nurse explained. “I think he had some opportunities that we missed him on the other night, too, where he was available to have some easier catch-and-shoots. About three of them, I thought we could’ve fired it out to him when they kind of lost him.”

The Sixers must defeat the Knicks in Game 3. No team has ever rallied from a 3-0 deficit to win a series in the NBA playoffs. Getting Oubre, Harris and Hield going on offense would be a big help.

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Sixers’ Kelly Oubre Jr. reacts to having face Knicks, MSG crowd in Round 1

Philadelphia 76ers forward Kelly Oubre Jr. reacts to facing the New York Knicks in Round 1 as well as battling the MSG crowd.

CAMDEN, N.J. — The Philadelphia 76ers are set to take on the New York Knicks in Round 1 of the playoffs as the No. 7 seed in the East. There will be a ton of challenges that Philadelphia will have to overcome in order to get the job done.

Kelly Oubre Jr. is set to play in his first playoff game since 2018 when he was a member of the Washington Wizards. The Sixers have received some hugely important play out of Oubre as he has been a big piece of what the team wants to do out on the floor.

As he and the Sixers prepare to face the Knicks, Oubre gave his thoughts on what New York offers in a 7-game series.

“Coach (Tom) Thibodeau, he gets his guys ready to go hard, play with intensity for 48 minutes,” Oubre said at practice on Friday. “They pride themselves on defense, and Jalen Brunson, he’s the head of the snake for them and he has really good pieces around him. Being more physical, I think that’s kind of the (main) takeaway I have from our success against them this year.”

The Sixers dropped three of the four matchups, but Philadelphia also didn’t have Joel Embiid for three of those games. On the flip side, the Knicks did defeat the Sixers in the game with the big fella.

While Thibodeau is going to figure things out for the Knicks, the Sixers have Nick Nurse on their side. He is going to come up with a scheme of his own to put Philadelphia in the best position to win this series and counteract New York’s physicality.

“The game is based on physicality and you have to be smart, too,” Oubre added. “So keeping our brains intact while we’re being physical and playing football-like basketball. I think it’ll be the better team with the highest IQ who can make changes and counter the aggression…at the end of the day, coach Nurse is a wizard when it comes to understanding game plans and getting us ready to play. So I’m going to just listen to whatever he has to say and go out and do it.”

When considering the atmosphere the Sixers are about to walk into, Madison Square Garden is crazy enough as it is. Throw in the intensity of the playoffs and Philadelphia understands what the MSG crowd will be like.

“The fans are pretty crazy,” laughed Oubre. “They have a really good culture of being wild and loving basketball to the root and the core of it. They call it the Mecca of basketball for a reason. The lights are super bright. They’re going to give celebrities those $100,00 free tickets just to be there and not care about the game, but that’s what they do. It’s going to be super fun and I look forward to it. It’s one of my favorite places to play.”

Game 1 of this series tips off on Saturday.

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Kelly Oubre Jr. refusing to give any secrets to success vs. Jimmy Butler, Heat

Philadelphia 76ers forward Kelly Oubre Jr. is not giving away any secrets to success against Jimmy Butler and the Miami Heat.

CAMDEN, N.J. — The Philadelphia 76ers will play host to the Miami Heat on Wednesday in the 7 vs. 8 play-in tournament game to determine who will be the No. 7 seed in the Eastern Conference.

This is the second straight season the Heat are in the play-in tournament. They emerged from it as the No. 8 seed in 2023 and made an improbable run to the NBA Finals. Therefore, Miami deserves respect from everybody around the league. Led by a unique star in Jimmy Butler, the Heat will certainly be no easy out for the Sixers on Wednesday.

Kelly Oubre Jr., who will be matched up with Butler at times, is not giving away any keys or secrets to the media in terms of defending him or the Heat.

“I’m not giving that team no secrets,” Oubre said when asked of the keys against Butler. “He’s smart. He watches this type of stuff and he gets fueled by anything. But he’s a great basketball player. I look forward to going against all the great basketball players in this league and adding my name up there.”

The Heat are famously known for their culture. Butler lives and breathes it. Essentially, it means Miami will work harder than everybody else, and, despite any so-called talent gap, the team will just find a way to rise to the challenge and get the job done.

Once again, though, Oubre isn’t giving any thought to that. He is focused on the Sixers.

“I don’t think about them, so I can’t answer that,” Oubre said. “That’s their stuff. They have a really great fan base. They always put hard-working teams together. Pat Riley, he created that culture over there, and it’s been working for them. But I don’t think about them at all.”

The Sixers and the Heat will match up at 7 p.m. EDT on Wednesday at the Wells Fargo Center.

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Sixers highlight play of Kelly Oubre Jr., others in key road win over Heat

The Philadelphia 76ers highlight the play of Kelly Oubre Jr. and the supporting cast after a critical win over the Miami Heat.

MIAMI — The Philadelphia 76ers picked up a 109-105 win over the host Miami Heat on Thursday that brought them within a half game of Miami for seventh in the Eastern Conference standings. With five games left, the Sixers need every win if they are to move up in the East.

The box score Thursday night shows Tyrese Maxey and Joel Embiid were dominant. Maxey had 37 points, 11 assists and nine rebounds. Embiid had 29 points. The Heat had no answer for them.

However, other guys stepped up and gave the Sixers a boost. Kelly Oubre Jr. scored 18 points, including seven in the fourth quarter, and KJ Martin and Paul Reed turned in huge defensive efforts to slow Miami.

“We were down eight or so with five or six minutes to go and Kelly made a couple of huge plays and kind of jump-started us back in there and then I just thought we were playing good defense for a long time,” said coach Nick Nurse. “We just couldn’t grab a rebound. We were really busting our butts to play, but we just couldn’t get a rebound and then we finally started getting some. I thought Paul Reed and KJ were huge. They were just trying really hard and snatched a few of those away.”

Oubre jump-started the Sixers on the offensive end: He had a couple of tough looks fall. His offensive charge allowed Philadelphia to begin pulling away from the Heat.

“He was big time,” Tyrese Maxey said of Oubre. “He was big time. I think early in the game, Joel had it going, I had it going a little bit, and I just told him it’s gonna come a time we’re gonna need you to hoop. They’re gonna start loading up on the boat for us and it’s your time to go out there and be aggressive and do what you do, and he did that.”

Martin and Reed also led a defensive charge that held the Heat to one field goal over the final 8:19 of the game. Kevin Love knocked down a fadeaway to put Miami up 99-93, and the Heat didn’t make another field goal until a Terry Rozier triple with 45.5 seconds left.

“KJ Martin, Paul Reed, it was huge,” added Maxey. “I mean, what they did on defense and when we zone and we went man, and they got a bit rebound as well. I told P-Reed you gotta go get them and he was gonna get them all. So that was huge. That was big time and then Joel came in and finished it out.”

The Sixers gained the critical win over the Heat. Now, they gotta take care of business against two struggling teams, the Memphis Grizzlies and the San Antonio Spurs, to finish the trip.

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Kelly Oubre Jr. locked in on helping Sixers make a run as free agency approaches

Kelly Oubre Jr. is locked in on trying to help the Philadelphia 76ers make a run as another summer of free agency approaches.

MIAMI — The Philadelphia 76ers brought in Kelly Oubre Jr. late in free agency on a minimum deal shortly before training camp. Considering the production Oubre has brought to the Sixers, the deal looks like a steal.

He’s averaging 15.2 points, 4.9 rebounds, 1.4 assists, and 1.1 steals for Philadelphia. There was a stretch in the middle of the season when he struggled with his shooting and finding his rhythm, but he has been a consistent source of offense for the Sixers for the most part.

“I try to show that I can score the ball and I don’t really go out of my way, but just trying to just be a better all-around overall player,” Oubre told Sixers Wire of any statements he tries to make. “Like, I get better each and every year. My numbers may not show so, but my usage is down as well, but I just try to get better each and every year, and I think that I’m making strides now later in the season, as compared to the middle. I started the season off strong, but I’m making strides now.”

As the season draws to a close and the playoffs are set to begin, Oubre is looking to make a statement to everybody, and to the Sixers, that he can be a solid two-way player in this league. He will enter free agency again after the season.

“The summer don’t happen until you take care of business right now,” he said. “So no, I don’t foreshadow. I don’t try to think about things like that, but you try to put yourself in the best position possible for the summer but that starts now and today.”

If Oubre can continue to make those strides, he will be headed toward a significant raise in free agency in the offseason. The athletic forward is focused on helping the Sixers make a run, but the two instances go hand in hand. As long as he continues to play well and help Philadelphia win games, his free agency case becomes that much easier for him to make.

“I don’t really have any personal goals,” Oubre added of the final six games. “I just want to play well, solidify myself as a two-way player in this league, show that I can play with Jo, Tyrese, and guys, and obviously picking off wins too but yeah, no, no true personal goals, but just kind of just show that I play both sides of the ball really well.”

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Kelly Oubre Jr.’s 4th quarter a big reason Sixers beat Thunder

Kelly Oubre Jr.’s 4th quarter performance was a big reason the Philadelphia 76ers defeated the Oklahoma City Thunder.

PHILADELPHIA — The Philadelphia 76ers looked a bit off on Tuesday night. They welcomed Joel Embiid back to the lineup as they took on the Oklahoma City Thunder, and their offense was up and down through three quarters.

With Embiid on the bench and the Sixers trailing by seven to start the fourth, the Sixers needed somebody to give them offense.

That somebody was Kelly Oubre Jr. After struggling through the first three quarters, Oubre stepped up big time in the fourth. He scored 17 points in the final 12 minutes. He shot 6-for-7 from the floor, including 4-for-4 from deep, in a 109-105 win over the Thunder.

“I think our offense was like super clunky tonight, right?” said coach Nick Nurse after the win. “Just super clunky and he just kind of fired a couple and nailed them. We were kind of like really needing some kind of boost and he just kind of rolled into a couple in a row and then all of a sudden he’s going.”

The Sixers looked a bit up and down while trying to reintegrate Embiid into the offense. Philadelphia shot 44.8% through the first three quarters and 50% in the fourth. As helpful as Embiid was, the Sixers probably don’t win this game without Oubre going off in the fourth.

“I just think this spacing,” Oubre said of his fourth quarter. “We were kind of catching a good rhythm when Jo checked back into the game and, obviously, he demands a lot of attention and the space was there and I just was trying to be aggressive obviously and then it kind of worked out in our favor towards we caught a rhythm. We caught that momentum toward the end of the game and Jo closed us out.”

This will be a work in progress for the Sixers. Embiid has to find chemistry with the new guys, and Oubre needs to make sure Embiid gets the ball while also getting his own shots.

“We put the ball in his hands late,” Nurse added. “Again, I think we’re still trying to figure out all this stuff and he’s one guy that can turn the corner and put a lot of pressure on the rim. So they’re gonna have to decide — if Joel will set a good screen — they’re gonna have to decide how they’re going to play him, right? We ended up hitting Joel in the roll most of it which turned out OK, too. I think there was some other plays to be made, but again, just everything’s just a little off and a little clunky offensively.”

The Sixers will face the Miami Heat on the road on Thursday.

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NBA fines Sixers’ Nick Nurse, Kelly Oubre Jr. $50K for tirade with officials

The NBA has fined Nick Nurse and Kelly Oubre Jr. of the Philadelphia 76ers $50K each for their tirade toward the officials.

Things got heated for the Philadelphia 76ers in the aftermath of a 108-107 loss to the Los Angeles Clippers on Wednesday night. In what was already an intense game considering the return of James Harden, the Sixers were on the wrong end of a massive mistake from the officials.

Kelly Oubre Jr. drove to the basket with Philadelphia down by one and 5.1 seconds left. As time was expiring, Oubre took a lot of contact from Clippers star Kawhi Leonard and the whistles were silent.

Afterward, coach Nick Nurse and Oubre went after the officials with Oubre shouting obscenities at them and Nurse fighting hard for his player to get a call. Oubre apologized afterward for his part of it and Nurse stated that he was just fighting for his player.

The NBA fined both of them $50,000.

Nurse, Oubre and the Sixers look to bounce back on Friday when they begin a two-game road trip against the Cleveland Cavaliers.

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